P&F Industries 5: Deep Sea Fishing for Barracuda
by EDD17SP
Summary: A while back, Phineas mentioned to Candace in passing that Isabella once almost died of Typhoid, and Candace finally asks him to tell the story. Fed up with her Toyota Camry, Isabella asks Steve to restore a car for her, which turns out to be a huge project. Set on Christmas Eve, but not a holiday story.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Phineas and Ferb or any of the songs used. Do not attempt any of the driving described here at home. There is no guarantee it will work the way I wrote it and you'll probably get arrested.**

**If you have not read "P&F Industries #1: The Mustang," "#2: El Camino de calle traviesa," or "#3: Night on the Riviera" this story will make no sense. It is not imperative, however, that you read "#4: Baljeet and the Superchicken," but why skip one? Read them all anyway.**

Chapter 1

_Wednesday, December 24, 2014_

Candace had been awake since 4:00am and regardless of what she tried, she just could not get comfortable and fall back to sleep.

She thought it was a bit strange that she was uncomfortable here, of all places. After all, she was back home from college for Christmas break and in her own bed for a change. Yet, sleep eluded her.

Finally, after two hours of tossing and turning, she rose from bed, wrapped her bath robe around her, and quietly opened her door.

_I suppose now is as good a time as any for a cup of coffee, _she thought.

She crept down the stairs, trying not to wake her parents or brothers. She didn't expect them up for another hour. So, it was quite a surprise to find Phineas in the living room.

Her triangle-headed brother was sitting on the couch in his pajamas, TV remote in hand. The sound was muted and he was aimlessly flipping through the channels.

"Good morning, Phineas," she whispered.

Phineas flinched. He had been so deep in thought that he hadn't noticed his sister and she startled him.

"Oh, good morning, Candace."

She sat down next to him. "I didn't expect you up this early," Candace said.

"Couldn't sleep."

"I can't imagine you're _that _excited about Christmas tomorrow. You're seventeen."

"No, it's not that," Phineas replied with a sigh. "I was up all night thinking about Isabella."

"Oooh!" Candace smirked.

"Not like that," Phineas returned with a hint of annoyance in his voice. He threw the remote down next to him. The TV had been stopped on an infomercial for a vacuum cleaner.

Candace's expression sank. "Still mulling over the whole relationship thing, huh?"

"Yeah," Phineas said quietly. "It's great that she's in love with me, and I feel like we shouldn't have any problem dating, and I think it would probably go even further than that. But…"

"But you don't want to lose her," Candace finished for him.

"Yeah. I value her friendship too much to risk ruining it if we don't work out."

"Oh, Phineas." Candace wrapped an arm around him. "I don't blame you. And you are very smart to think that way. There aren't many kids your age who would consider that."

"Yeah…" Phineas wasn't really sure how to respond to that. Candace retracted her arm and he picked up the remote and resumed flipping through the TV stations again. Finally, without turning to look at Candace, he said, "I've been running various moments through my head. Moments from our childhood, trying to figure out if I am in love with Isabella."

"And?"

"Well…" he didn't respond for a minute. "The jury's still out."

Candace sank back into the couch, trying to figure out if there was some way she could help her brother.

Phineas spoke up again. "I keep going back to that time she almost died of typhoid when we were fifteen. What if she _had_ died?"

"Hey," Candace interrupted. "You mentioned that once before, near the beginning of the summer. I never heard about that before."

"Really?"

"Really."

Phineas didn't respond. He just continued pressing the "channel up" button. Candace wanted to hear this story. Then, she had an idea.

"Why don't you tell me the story? Maybe I can interpret what happened and help you understand how you feel about Isabella."

The reply wasn't immediate. Finally, Phineas said, somewhat reluctantly, "Okay, I'll tell you what happened."

He flicked off the TV and tossed the remote aside. He swung his feet up onto the couch and pulled his knees up to his chest. Then, he took a deep breath and began his story.

"As do most of our adventures, this one started in the backyard under the tree…"

* * *

Isabella could remember the sickness, how it consumed her strength. How she had laid on a makeshift cot (which was really a tank tread from the All-Terrain Vehicle) and slowly blacked out. And she remembered what she saw when she was comatose.

_Two years, five months, eleven days ago. Give or take a few hours._

She stared up at Phineas, who was standing directly above her, screaming at her to stay awake. The edges of her vision were becoming dark, and the blackness was quickly spreading over the rest of her sight, and she welcomed sleep as her heavy eyelids closed.

Isabella almost immediately found herself surrounded by white light. There was no ground, but she did not seem to be floating. It was more like being suspended by invisible wires. The light came from every direction and did not dim or intensify in any direction; just a perpetual, all consuming white light.

"Hello?" she called out. She no longer felt sick, but then, she could not feel anything at all, almost as if her body had disappeared, which she could see it had not. "Hello?"

There was silence. It was so silent that it was nearly painful. Thus, she was startled when a voice spoke to her.

"Isabella." The voice was smooth and deep, and sounded kindly. "Isabella."

"Y-yes?"

"Do you know where you are?" the voice asked.

"No, no I don't."

"You are in limbo, Isabella."

"How do you know my name?" Isabella asked, fear taking over her.

"I know everyone's name. I created them, after all."

Isabella processed this. "God?"

"Yes?"

"No, I mean, you _are_ God!"

"Correct."

Isabella thought again.

"So…you said I was in limbo?"

"Yes, yes I did."

"What does that mean?" she asked, panic growing. "Am I dead?"

"No, no, you were close though. But, it is not your time. You must go back to earth. Back to the living. Back…to your body."

A portal suddenly opened in the vast nothingness, and Isabella could see her own body, not moving, and Phineas, screaming at her to wake up, and Ferb, trying to calmly tell Phineas that she was gone. Baljeet and Buford had each other wrapped in a hug and were crying in the corner of the portal's view.

"Back? Back to earth?"

"Yes, Isabella."

"So I'm not going to die?"

"No, you shall live to be one hundred and forty-six years old."

"One forty-six?"

"Yes, medical technology really improves, but you will be there for that. You must go back now."

"But God, I want to ask you a question."

There was a short chuckle. "I know, you want to ask about you and Phineas. Well, I can't answer that."

"Why not?"

"No time. If you don't go back in the next four seconds, you will be dead."

Isabella dove through the portal as fast as she could and awoke to a teary and very distressed Phineas, who quickly wrapped her in a hug that crushed the air out of her lungs.

* * *

After her near-death experience in the Amazon two years ago, Isabella had become very religious. Being that she celebrated two religions, she felt like she should really pick one or the other. (Not that she couldn't still celebrate both with her family.) The decision wasn't difficult. She chose Catholicism because that's what Phineas was. Phineas wasn't exactly the religious type, but she figured they should match, incase they got married one day.

She began attending mass every Sunday morning, most of the time with her mother, but sometimes alone. When the gang met Steve, who was also quite religious, she discovered that they attended mass at the same time, at the same church, which she was quite pleased about. She was glad to share her religion with someone and they would sit together.

When Isabella's mother couldn't attend church with her, Steve would usually take Isabella out to breakfast afterwards. It was part of his own routine to go to eat after church and he hated eating alone.

While Steve made friends with the entire group very quickly, the friendship bond that he formed with Isabella was different. Isabella always felt secure telling Steve her problems and Steve was finally able to relieve some of the pain he still felt from his old life in Delaware with Isabella's advice.

So, while Phineas was beginning his story, Isabella was preparing to leave for church.

* * *

Isabella zipped up her heavy purple winter coat and hat, then her gloves. She grabbed her car keys from the hook and headed out to her car. Her mother had to work this morning, even though it was Christmas eve, so she was on her own for church.

The weather outside was miserable. Though no snow was falling, a strong and persistent wind blew loose snow from roof tops and sidewalks, and whipped them around in a way that stung the skin.

Isabella half closed her eyes as she turned to lock the door behind her. The snow stung her face. She walked to her car quickly, careful not to slip. She grabbed the handle and pulled it up, but the door did not open. She checked that the door was unlocked, which it was, and tried again, but it refused to yield. It was frozen shut.

"Uh!" Isabella groaned as she heaved on the door. "Come…on!…Stupid…door!"

There was a snap and Isabella had to take a few steps backward to balance herself out. She looked down into her hand. She was holding the plastic door handle. It had broken off of the metal brackets.

"Great! Now how am I going to get in my car?"

* * *

"We couldn't decide what to do that day," Phineas told Candace, "so we were looking through some of our old idea books. Reminiscing about old adventures, and checking to see if there were any we planned on but never actually did."

"I can't imagine there were too many you didn't do," Candace said.

"You'd be right on that count, sis."

A ripple effect dissolved to the backyard, two years, five months ago.

* * *

Fifteen year old Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet sat in a circle beneath the big tree, a large box of assorted books and blueprints on the grass in the middle.

"Check this out, guys," Phineas said, pulling an old spiral-bound notebook out from the bottom of the box. "This is me and Ferb's first idea book." He opened to a random page in the middle, revealing a very crude but detailed red crayon drawing of a contraption labeled "HYDRO-ELECTRONIC BOUNCY BALLS"." "I think we made this when we were three."

"You designed water-powered bouncy balls when you were three?" Baljeet asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah," Phineas said. "As I recall, we broke one of the neighbor's window with them."

Buford said, "When I was three, I think I was toilet trained."

Isabella rolled her eyes. She was paging through a thick, leather-bound book filled with blueprints, most of which she recalled from the summer they were 10. She turned over the blueprint for the Shrinking Submarine and found a plain white piece of paper with half-torn holes at the top, revealing that it came from a spiral flip book, stuck between the pages.

"Hey, guys," she said, holding it up so they could see. "Check this out."

One side of the paper had this written on it:

**GIVE MONKEY SHOWER**

**BUILD A ROCKET**

**SURF TIDAL WAVE**

**CLIMB EIFFEL TOWER**

**FRANKENSTEIN'S BRAIN**

**FIND DODO BIRD**

**PAINT CONTINENT**

Each item was crossed out with a single line. The reverse side had this written on it:

**CREATE NANO-BOTS**

**BUILD ROBOT DOG**

**RACE CAR**

**FIGHT MUMMY**

**FIND SOMETHING NON-EXISTENT**

**ROLLERCOSTER**

**DRIVE CANDACE NUTS!**

Also all of which were crossed off, except "FIND SOMETHING NON-EXISTENT.

"We never found something that doesn't exist?" she asked.

Phineas took the paper from her and examined it. "Oh, yeah, I remember. We were going to try on that day we had the thunderstorm and lost our power. Remember Ferb? We were going to stand in a field with a metal pole?"

"How exactly would that help you discover a previously undiscovered creature?" Baljeet wondered aloud.

"The pole was a big antenna hooked to a computer with a DNA database. It could scan any living thing within an hour's walk and the computer would then search for the animal in the data base, and if it didn't find a match, then it probably didn't exist."

"But…would not something that has not been discovered yet…already exist?"

"Well, yes, but nothing exists until it is discovered, and it would remain non-existent until it was found, at which point it would become existent, and therefore, it would be impossible to discover something and for that thing to not exist at the same time. It's a paradox. So, to discover something that doesn't exist, you would have to never discover it at all, and you can't discover something if you never find it."

* * *

"Phineas, Phineas, Phineas!" Candace said, waving her arms in front of her. "You're giving me a headache! Just skip ahead to where Isabella gets sick."

"Okay, I can do that. So, I said 'Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today,' and we decided to go to the Amazon Rainforest to search. We didn't have to worry about getting there, we could just use the All-Terrain Vehicle."

"You still have that thing?" Candace interrupted.

"Well, we did at the time. It's one of the few things we built that never disappeared."

"Where did you keep it all that time?"

"I thought you wanted the short version?"

"You're right, sorry, continue."

"So we flew to South America and started searching, without any of our high-tech equipment. We thought it would be more fun to just walk around and enjoy the beauty of the rainforest, whether we found anything or not. And at some point, Isabella started to cough…"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Isabella walked into the Church and hurried to her usual pew where Steve was already waiting. A quick glance at her watch told her that she had only three minutes to spare before mass was scheduled to start.

"Where have you been?" Steve whispered.

"I had a little issue with my car."

Steve smirked. He knew Isabella drove a Toyota Camry, and, as a hater of foreign cars, enjoyed making fun of her for driving it. "What kind of issue?"

"This kind." She pulled the broken door handle out of her pocket and handed it to Steve, who let a laugh escape his mouth.

"The handle broke off?!"

"Yeah," she sighed. "The door froze shut and I pulled it off."

"How did you get into the car?"

"I managed to get the passenger door open and climbed across."

Steve laughed quietly again. This was not the first issue Isabella had had with her Camry. (Steve had been forced to fix the previous issues, much to his dismay.)

"Toyotas suc-"

"We're in church!" Isabella reminded him sternly.

"Sorry. Toyotas are junk."

Isabella sighed and was silent for a few moments as she knelt and said a few prayers to herself. When she sat back in the pew, she looked at Steve again.

"Steve? Do you think you could restore a car for me?"

"Really!" Steve said a bit too excitedly, resulting in shushes from the old ladies behind them.

"Sure. All my best friends have a classic, old American car. I should too."

"Awesome! What do you think you want?"

"I don't know."

The conversation ended there as mass started. "We have a lot to talk about," Steve whispered in her ear.

* * *

"Typhoid takes four weeks to fully on set. Somehow, Isabella got all the symptoms in a few hours," Phineas continued.

* * *

"Isabella, are you okay? You don't sound good?" Phineas asked.

*cough* *cough* "I don't feel too good. I hope I'm not getting sick."

"We can find out quickly enough," Phineas told her. "Ferb can diagnose anything in a heartbeat."

"Okay."

Isabella sat down on a large rock. Ferb began by feeling her forehead, and then checked her pulse.

"Not to cause panic," Ferb said, "But you do have a bit of a fever and your pulse seems low."

Isabella froze and a worried look crossed her face.

"Uh…Isabella?" Buford said slowly.

"Yes?" *cough* *cough*

"Your nose is bleeding."

And that it was.

"I am afraid to have to ask you this," Ferb said as he handed Isabella his handkerchief to wipe her nose on, "but…I need to see your chest."

"What?" Isabella's tone lowered and she scowled at Ferb.

"I am afraid that you might have typhoid and I need to see if your chest has any red spots."

Isabella was quiet for a moment. She appeared deep in thought.

"Fine. But only you, Ferb. I'm turning around and the three of you are going to face away from me, too."

"Aw, man!" This from Buford.

"Come on, guys," Phineas said, "Let's give her some privacy."

They turned around and took a few steps away. Isabella rotated around on the rock and Ferb walked around in front of her.

Isabella exhaled, which provoked some more coughing, and when she finally calmed her windpipe, lifted up her shirt.

"Yup," Ferb said almost immediately. "You have Typhoid."

* * *

When mass let out, Steve and Isabella stopped for a bagel instead of an all-out meal and then headed for Steve's garage.

"Now," Steve said when they were in his office out of the cold. "What kind of car do you think you want?"

"I don't know," Isabella replied. "I don't know cars like you and Buford."

"Well, I can't choose for you, so here." Steve pulled a huge binder out of a desk drawer and dropped it on the table. "This binder contains information on every Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Pontiac, Buick, Plymouth, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Chrysler, Mercury and Lincoln produced since 1950, because I don't work on anything older than that. There are pictures of every car. Find something you like."

"Okay. This could be fun, I suppose," Isabella said, sitting down at the desk.

"Great. I'm gonna go make sure my snowplow is still in good working order because I heard we're going to get more snow tonight. There's some sticky-notes in the drawer, just stick one on anything that interests you and later, we'll see what you got."

"Got it."

As Steve walked away, he muttered under his breath, "Please, don't pick a GM. I'm sick of restoring GM's."

* * *

When Isabella had fixed her shirt and the others rejoined her, she had a very scared look on her face.

"Come on, Isabella," Phineas said, "Let's go home."

"Okay," she said sadly, coughing a few more times.

She stumbled as she hoped down from the rock.

"You okay?" Phineas asked.

"Of course," she said, but as she tried to walk again, she obviously was not okay. She stumbled and had to grab a tree to keep from falling.

"Here, I've got you." Phineas put an arm under her arms and supported her as they began a rather lengthy trek back to where they had left the All-Terrain Vehicle.

* * *

"It was a really long walk back to the ATV," Phineas told Candace. "When we finally got there-"

"Wait, hold up a second," Candace interrupted. "You helped Isabella walk all the way back?"

"Yeah."

"How did you feel when you were bracing her?"

"Concerned."

"That isn't what I meant," Candace said. "I meant, you were holding her, essentially. Did you feel at all…I don't know…excited? To be holding her, I mean."

"I don't know. What does that feel like?"

"Did your heart flutter a little? Or did you feel warm?"

"It was the Amazon Rainforest. We were all really warm."

Candace shook her head in disgust. "You're hopeless."

Phineas ignored her comment and continued his story.

* * *

"I'll jump up inside, Isabella, and then I'll pull you up," Phineas said to his sick friend. "It'll be easier than trying to lift you in."

"Okay, Phineas." Isabella normally would have been blushing, but she felt too sick to be love struck.

Phineas put a foot on the ATV's tank tread and used it as a step, grabbing the bottom of the frame below the open gull-wing door and pulling himself up. He sat down on the backseat and reached down. Isabella grabbed his hands and Ferb pushed her up from the bottom as Phineas pulled.

"Does anybody hear something weird?" Baljeet asked.

"Weird how?" Buford replied.

"Only in a way that I do not recognize the noise."

Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella did not hear the exchange between Buford and Baljeet, nor did they notice the sawing noise which had now become a creaking sound.

"Al…most…there…" Though Isabella was not very heavy, she was too weak to help pull herself up and so to Phineas, she was dead weight. After a bit of a struggle, Isabella finally reached the cab of the ATV and Phineas guided her onto the seat next to him.

"Thanks, Phineas," she said quietly, trying to smile at him.

"No problem,"

"That sound is getting louder," Baljeet called out, trying to make sure his friends heard him this time.

Buford looked around, trying to determine the source of the strange sound. "Is that tree moving?"

Baljeet shifted his gaze to the tree, but had no time to shout a warning as the tree began to fall over…right toward the ATV.

The massive Brazil Nut tree cracked and groaned as it plummeted toward earth, and landed on the ATV, sheering off the exact spot where Phineas and Isabella were sitting and crushing flat the rest. The crash resonated through the jungle, causing a myriad of panicked noises from nearby animals.

Phineas and Isabella froze, eyes wide, locked on the tree that had nearly turned them into pancakes. Ferb stared up at them from the ground, mesmerized at the way the tree had perfectly sheered off three feet from the side of the ATV, which was still standing upright on one of the two tank treads. The other seven-eighths or so of the ATV had disappeared beneath the cylindrical mass of wood next to it.

For several moments, everyone was shocked silent, unmoving. Finally, Buford said, "Whoa…that tree almost turned you guys into pancakes."

_Didn't I just say that?_

Isabella, however, was less concerned about her and Phineas's miraculous safety and more so about the fact that their transportation out of the rainforest was destroyed. "Phineas, *cough* *cough* *cough*, now how are we going to get home?"

"Don't worry." Phineas reached under the piece of seat that was still intact and pulled out Ferb's toolbox. "We can build something to at least get us to the nearest civilization. From there, we can build something capable of getting us home. At least we have plenty here to work with, unlike that time we were stranded on that island when we circumnavigated the globe."

"Actually, Phineas," Baljeet spoke up, "in Isabella's current condition, I do not think she is fit for travel. Traveling on the ATV would have been fine because we could have made her comfortable, but I doubt she is strong enough to travel on a make-shift vehicle for a long period of time."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Phineas lowered Isabella back down to Ferb by her arms, and then jumped down to the ground himself.

Baljeet thought for a moment. "We should try to make Isabella comfortable so she can rest while the rest of us get to work. Perhaps I can try to make a medication of sorts from the elements around us to increase her chances of survival until we-"

"SURVIVAL!" Phineas blurted out. "You mean she might…?"

There was silence. Isabella, supported by Ferb, for the first time, looked more scared than concerned.

"Yes. But, if we can get her home, she can be easily cured. We do not exactly have the best medical equipment out here in the jungle."

"Then why are we still standing here?" Phineas yelled. "Let's get to work! We gotta get home!"

"Were you not listening?" Baljeet asked, sounding rather annoyed. "If Isabella is not strong enough to travel, or the means of transport are too uncomfortable for her, we could do more damage to her already ailing body."

Phineas was not listening. He was just barking out orders. "Ferb, start cutting up this tree to build a frame. Buford, start collecting vines to use as rope. Isabella…just sit there and rest."

"Um, Phineas-" Baljeet tried, but he was interrupted.

"Baljeet!" Phineas practically screeched, right in Baljeet's face. "Get to work on that 'medicine.' Fast!"

No one moved. They just stared at Phineas. They had never seen him like this before.

"NOW!"

Ferb, Baljeet and Buford practically ran into the jungle.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Steve glanced out the window as he walked back into his apartment from the garage. It was just beginning to flurry, much earlier than the forecast had predicted. He entered his office, where Isabella still sat at the desk, head resting on the open binder, fast asleep.

"Isabella," Steve whispered, "Wake up."

The sleeping teen stirred and slowly lifted her head. "Mmm?"

Steve started laughing. "The side of your face has got lines from where you were laying on your hair. You must have been out cold."

Isabella yawned. "Yeah, I was. Cold makes me sleepy."

"Did you find anything you like before you fell asleep?"

"Yeah. This one." She pointed at the page she had been sleeping on.

Steve's eyes grew slightly wider, and though he tried not to, a smile forced it's way onto his face.

"Isabella?"

"Yes?"

"That's the 1970 Plymouth Barracuda."

"Yeah."

"Do you have any idea how rare that car is?"

Isabella hesitated, feeling like she had done something wrong. "No."

"Extremely!"

There were a few moments of awkward silence.

"So…should I pick something different?"

Steve thought hard. "Well…the 'Cuda is a super cool car…the odds of finding one to restore are probably nil…but…" He thought a few more moments, removing his Ford Racing hat and scratching the back of his neck. He tossed his hat on the desk. "I guess…the 1970 Dodge Challenger…was on the same platform…just two inches longer, wheelbase-wise…we could probably find a '70 Challenger…and modify the frame…We'll have to hand make all the body panels and it's gonna be hard to find parts…we could cheat a little bit and use a Challenger engine, too…we'll probably have to custom make a lot of parts…but…"

Isabella looked at him anxiously, waiting for him to finish his sentence.

"I think Buford and I are up to the task."

"Really?" Isabella asked. "Because I could just pick something different-"

"No," Steve interrupted. "I want to do this. This could be our biggest challenge yet, and I want to do it. Unless, you don't think that's what you want."

Isabella turned away and looked back at the picture in the binder, reading over the specifications again.

"It is a really cool-looking car," she admitted. She looked back at Steve. "Do you think all the boys at school would be jealous?"

"Isabella, the boys at school are jealous of Buford's El Camino and that isn't even that rare. The boys at school will be _drooling_ over a '70 'Cuda."

She looked at the picture again. "The more I look at it, the cooler it looks. I can just picture myself driving it, Phineas leaning his head on my shoulder, his hand on top of mine on top of the shifter…" Isabella had zoned out, her eyes directed up at the ceiling.

"Driving up to Danville Mountain on a clear, moonlit night, and he looks into my eyes and says, 'Kiss me, Isabella,' and-"

"LOOK OUT! THERE'S A DEER IN THE ROAD!" Steve yelled.

Isabella jumped and pushed backward against the desk, causing the chair to flip over backward. She rolled out of the chair and lay on the ground very still.

"Isabella? Are you alright?"

Embarrassed that she had slipped so far into Phineasland, she said, "You can just leave me here until I die, now, thank you."

* * *

"Phineas," Candace said, trying to suppress laughter, "I don't think I've ever heard you yell like that. It's so…unlike you."

"Can you blame me?" Phineas asked. "Would you have acted any differently if _your_ best friend was in danger of dying?"

Candace thought for a moment, replacing Isabella with Stacy in Phineas's story. "I suppose," but she almost didn't believe her words. Then, she replaced Stacy with Jeremy. She could imagine herself being even angrier. "I think I'd be more likely to yell like that if Jeremy were the sick one. Because I love him."

Phineas started to say something, then stopped. His facial expression completely changed and he appeared to be deep in thought. Candace expected him to say something regarding what she had just said, but he didn't. He just continued his story.

"We worked as fast as we could, and we were halfway done with our makeshift vehicle when Isabella collapsed. She had been sitting on the tank tread from the ATV and all of a sudden, she just…fell off."

* * *

"Isabella!"

Phineas jumped down from the top of their plant-powered car-type vehicle-thingy and rushed to Isabella's side. He fell to his knees and held her up in his arms.

"Phin…s" she moaned weakly as her eyes rolled back in her head.

"Isabella! Stay awake, you hear me? STAY AWAKE!"

Ferb and Buford appeared next to Phineas. Buford bent down and grabbed Isabella's ankles . "Come on," the bully said, "Let's put her up here." He motioned toward the tank tread with his head.

Phineas lifted Isabella under the midsection of her back, Ferb supporting her head, as Buford lifted her legs. They laid her gently on the smooth rubber tread. Isabella convulsed slightly, her eyelids fluttering.

"Isabella…" Phineas said mournfully. "Please don't die."

* * *

"Time seemed to stand still," Phineas told is sister. "Ferb tried to get her to drink some water, but she was having trouble swallowing and most of it just spilled out of her mouth. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Baljeet finally returned with whatever he had concocted to try to help Isabella."

* * *

"I am back! And after seven tries, I think I finally got the mixture correct!" Baljeet called, hidden from sight by the trees. He stepped out into the little clearing and saw Phineas, Ferb, and Buford grouped around Isabella on the ATV tread. "I believe some events took place while I was gone that I am thus far unaware of."

"Yeah, get over here with that stuff!" Phineas said flatly.

"Sheesh! Bossy…" Baljeet grumbled.

Phineas took the thermos from Baljeet. (Baljeet had been using it to carry water in before using it to mix various leaves, minerals, berries, and other various natural elements from the rainforest.) The triangle-headed teen gently lifted Isabella's head with one arm under the back of her neck and held the thermos to her lips. The liquid inside was sickly in appearance: sort of green with dark speckles and a few various chunks. Isabella, barely conscious, took no notice and tried to choke it down. When Phineas removed the thermos, she coughed a few times, spewing droplets of the "medicine" on Phineas's arm and all over Buford's shirt. A few more coughs and she threw up.

Phineas lowered Isabella's head back down. Ferb handed his brother his handkerchief, already bloodstained from Isabella's nosebleed, and Phineas used it to wipe the bile from around Isabella's mouth. The girl looked at him though half closed eyes, her mouth hanging open loosely. The boy looked at her pretty face, dried blood smeared around her upper lip from her nose bleed, her silky black hair disheveled, her half-closed eyes slightly bloodshot, and he started to cry.

"At this rate," Baljeet spoke slowly, sadness in his voice, "she will not live to see the hour. I cannot imagine how Isabella managed to contract full-blown typhoid in just a few hours. It must be some new strand of DNA in the bacteria."

Phineas looked at his watch. It was 6:42. He could not remember so much time passing since they had arrived in the jungle, but he could not believe that his best friend would not last another fifteen minutes. He glanced at Ferb, who returned a morbid look.

He turned to Baljeet. "What about your medicine?" he spat angrily, tears streaming down his face. "You said it would help!"

"I believe it is too late for it to take any kind of effect."

Phineas wanted to scream something angrily at Baljeet, but he could not think of anything. He bit his lower lip so hard it started to bleed.

As Phineas turned back to face Isabella, Baljeet looked at Buford. The burly teen had been standing next to him the entire time and hadn't said a word. There were tears streaming down Buford's cheeks, silently though; his hands were clenched into fists.

"Buford…are you…crying?"

Buford clenched his eyes shut and tried to will himself away, but, of course, he couldn't. "No…I'm not cry-" He wiped his wet face off with his sleeve. "Of course I'm crying! One of my best friends is about to die!"

Baljeet had held his composure up until this point, but couldn't any longer. He started to cry as well. At the sight of his best friend crying, Buford broke down and started sobbing loudly. He unconsciously grabbed Baljeet and hugged him so tightly that Baljeet said, "If…you don't…let..go…..two of…your…..best..friends….are going…to..die."

"What?"

"You're…choking…..me!"

Buford released his choke hold, and Baljeet turned to embrace him back. They sank to the ground and leaned against the upright tank tread, trying unsuccessfully to comfort one another.

* * *

"So?"

"So what?"

"So, what was going through your mind when you were waiting for Isabella to die?" Candace asked. "I mean, other than, 'Don't die.'"

Phineas thought hard. "I…don't really remember."

"You weren't thinking about the future? A future where Isabella doesn't die? You weren't thinking, say 'Isabella and I will never be able to…" she motioned with her hand for Phineas to finish the sentence.

It took a while before Phineas finally said, "No?"

"Why is that a question? I don't know the answer."

"I think the author just wants the audience to read it with a questioning tone."

Candace put a hand on her head, as if she had a headache, which she didn't.

"All right, finish the story."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Steve helped Isabella up off the floor, trying not to laugh as he did so.

"That wasn't funny, Steve."

"Yes it was!"

He turned the chair upright and Isabella sat back down.

"So…you really want a Plymouth Barracuda."

"Yes, yes I do."

"There was nothing else in this binder you liked better?"

"Nope."

"I'm thinking…black base with two-tone lime green and red accents."

"And I'm thinking purple with pink accents."

"Which will just suck all the coolness right out of the car. It's a 'Cuda! It's gotta be cool, not pretty!"

"But it's my car, not yours!"

"Okay, how about a black base with magenta accents?"

Isabella pictured this in her head. "Okay. Metallic, right?"

"Of course. Cloth or leather interior?"

"Leather, of course."

"Gray seats?"

"White."

"Fine. But gray carpet."

"Yeah. White carpet is too hard to keep clean."

"Chrome or brushed?"

"Chrome. Duh."

Steve smiled. In his head, he had already built the car. "Lastly and most important: the engine. It was available in eight different styles. Biggest was the legendary Hemi in a 440 cubic inch. If you can spare a few extra dollars, and by that I mean, like, three thousand more, I can have my engine guy build you a replica from scratch, or we can cheat and use whatever engine comes in the Challenger we use as a base."

Isabella considered this for a moment, and then pulled her phone from her pocket and used it to check her bank account.

"Give me the 440!"

"Awesome! Goin' with the 6-pack!"

"I thought it was a V8?"

"No, 6-pack means it's a six-barrel carburetor. Not very many cars ever had more than a four-barrel, hence the nickname."

"Ohhhh."

Steve grabbed a post-it note from the desk and scribbled down all of Isabella's requests.

"Hey, Steve?"

"Yeah?"

"Will this car be loud?"

"Oh, yeah! Extremely."

"Could you do that thing you did with the muffler on your Mustang on this car when you build it?"

"You mean the servo thing that connects and disconnects the muffler? Really? You want it to be louder?"

"I just want everyone to know when I'm coming."

Steve stopped what he was doing and looked at Isabella. "Damn."

"What?"

"I wish _I_ could find a girl who thinks that way. Phineas is so lucky."

Isabella blushed and gave Steve a weird look.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to start chasing you like you've been chasing Phineas all these years. You're too young for me."

Isabella relaxed a little. "Try telling Ferb that Vanessa is too old for him. There is a good chance you won't wake up in your bed the next morning."

"Why? Where would I wake up?"

"Let's just say, Ferb knows where all of the world's volcanic hotspots are."

"Ring of Fire. Got it."

_"I fell in to a burning ring of fire…I went down, down, down, and the flames went higher…and it burns, burns, burns…the ring of fire…the ring of fire," _Isabella sang.

Steve glared at Isabella. "Are you trying to make me fall for you? Because, if you're not, don't just randomly start singing Johnny Cash."

Isabella blushed again and gave Steve a teasing smile. "Sorry. I'll try to make myself less desirable to you in the future."

Steve laughed and reached over the desk. He stuck the sticky note to the bottom of his computer monitor.

"I have one more question for you."

"Shoot."

"What are you going to do with the Camry?"

Isabella put a finger to her lips as she thought. "Wanna pack it full of explosives and blow it up?"

"Will you marry me?"

"Steve!"

"I'm kidding!"

Isabella rolled her eyes and pushed the chair back from the desk. She walked over to the window and watched the snow falling in the back yard. "Wow. It's starting to really come down hard." The Ford clock on the wall behind Steve's desk read 8:50am. "It wasn't supposed to start snowing until tonight."

"Yeah. Let's go outside and see what the roads are like."

A few minutes later, they walked down to the street, which had about an inch of snow covering it, yet to be plowed. Isabella and Steve both slid several times in the driveway.

"Yikes," Steve observed as he regained his balance for the ninth or so time. "This is really powdery, slippery snow."

"Yeah, I'm a little worried about driving home in this. Usually, the state and county are so good about putting down brine ahead of time to keep snow from sticking to the roads, but nothing this time."

Steve took a few steps out into the road and his feet slid out from under him. He landed hard on his bottom. "Oof!"

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Ow." Steve painfully stood back up and brushed snow from the seat of his pants. "Why don't you just leave your piece-of-junk car here and I'll drive you home in my truck? I have the plow, after all, and off-road tires."

"Good idea."

They were both freezing and tried to hurry back to the warmth inside the garage. They both almost immediately fell.

"Okay, let's hurry, slowly," Isabella groaned.

"Agreed."

* * *

"Phi…as."

Phineas leaned over Isabella's head, trying to make out what she was trying to say. "Yes, Isabella? What is it?"

"Phine… am I go..g to….die?"

Phineas slid his hand into hers and squeezed gently. He shut his eyes and tried not to sob as he choked out the words, "Yes…yes you are."

Isabella's skin had become ashen, making most of her veins visible. She looked like a corpse even though, as this point she was still alive.

It appeared to take a huge amount of effort, but Isabella finally managed to get Phineas's entire name out. "Phineas." Phineas could feel her hand going limp. "I…have to…tell…you….someth..g. Before…I go."

"Yes, Isabella anything."

"Phineas…" Isabella was finding it extremely difficult to keep her eyes open and speaking was expending the last of her energy. "I…lv…ou."

As Isabella's eyes closed, the last conscious thought that passed through her head was: _I failed. I waited too long. There was no way he understood that. Now he'll never know._

"Isabella! ISABELLA! NO!"

* * *

"Ferb kept on telling me she was gone, but I didn't believe him. I didn't want to listen to him. I just kept on screaming at Isabella to wake up."

Phineas just stopped talking. He didn't say another word. It looked to Candace like he was starting to cry.

"And then…what?" she asked.

"She just…woke up. About a minute later."

A tear dripped off of Phineas's non-existent chin, his eyes downcast, remembering the horrible feeling of loosing his best friend.

"Wait, hang on," Candace said. "She said 'I love you' and you didn't even realize it?"

"I couldn't understand what she said. I thought she was trying to say something and just ran out of energy to control her lips. I thought it was just gibberish. I realize now, that is what it sounded like."

Candace was trying to figure out how to ask Phineas about his feelings toward Isabella on that fateful day two years ago, but she was interrupted by the rest of her family coming down the stairs.

"Good morning, Candace," Lawrence said cheerfully.

"Morning."

Phineas turned away and quickly wiped the tears from his face. He turned back to his family, and, as if someone had flipped a switch, his usual ear-to-ear grin had returned.

"Good morning, everyone! Merry Christmas Eve!"

"Same to you, Phineas," Linda replied, heading into the kitchen. "I'm making pancakes for breakfast."

"All right!" Phineas exclaimed, jumping off the couch. "Hey, Ferb! What should we do today? It's Christmas Eve, after all."

"Well, whatever we do, I'm sure it will involve snow, various holiday decorations, and no fewer than four jet engines. Based on past experience, I mean."

They both started to walk into the kitchen, but Phineas stopped, and turned to Candace, who was still sitting on the couch.

"Hey, sis?"

"Yes, Phineas?"

"Thanks. For talking with me, I mean. I think I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow."

And with that, Phineas joined his family in the kitchen.

Candace smiled and rose from the couch. She didn't know what Phineas had planned, but she assumed that Isabella would be pleased.

Driving to Isabella's house had been a harrowing adventure, even with the snow plow clearing a path and the off-road tires providing extra grip. The old Ford had almost slid off the road several times, and Isabella was glad Steve was driving instead of her, for she was not sure she possessed the skill Steve had used to keep the truck on the road. Finally they reached the Garcia-Shapiro residence.

"Here we are," Steve said, putting the truck in park. "Careful walking to your door."

"Yup. I'm going to walk through the grass. I doubt it's as slippery."

"Good idea. As long as I'm here, I'll plow out your drive way and then do Phineas and Ferb's, too."

"Cool! Thanks! It'll be great to not have to shovel." Isabella opened the passenger door and jumped out, landing in three inches of snow. It had piled up fast. Before she closed the door, she asked, "How are you spending Christmas?"

"I guess, as usual, I'll be alone," Steve said regretfully. "I haven't spent Christmas with anyone since my parents died."

"Well, my mom and I are going to Phineas and Ferb's for dinner tomorrow. Why don't I ask Phineas if you can come, too?"

"Really? It would be great to not be alone on Christmas for once."

"Sure. I'm sure they won't mind, but I'll call and ask Phineas and let you know."

"Okay. Thanks."

"Bye, Steve." Isabella closed the door and trudged through the heavily falling snow to her front door as Steve turned into her driveway and lowered the plow.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_Thursday, December 25, 2014_

Christmas morning, Isabella trudged through the deep still-falling snow over to the Flynn-Fletcher house around 11 o'clock to exchange gifts with Phineas and Ferb. Her mother would be over later for dinner.

Following the exchange of gifts between the friends, Phineas led Isabella up to his bedroom and closed the door.

"Whatcha doin'?" Isabella asked, not following Phineas's actions at all.

Phineas did not respond. He walked back to Isabella and took her hands in his. They both sat on the edge of the bed.

"Isabella," Phineas began, "what I have to say you are probably going to be both upset and happy about."

"How's that?"

Phineas bit his lower lip. He wished he had thought through what he wanted to say. "Do you remember when we went to the Amazon?"

"Yeah, when I almost died."

Phineas cringed at the words. "Yes…when you almost…anyway, I was thinking about how I felt when you were gone. I mean, when I thought you were gone. I thought about something Candace had said to me. And I think I realized something."

Isabella was quite confused, but she nodded for Phineas to continue.

Phineas took a deep breath. "I was wondering what it would have been like if Buford or Baljeet had been the sick one. Or even Ferb. I don't know how much you remember from that day, but…do you remember how angry I got?"

"Sorta."

"I really don't think I would have been nearly that angry if one of them had been sick. I got mad because it was you who was sick." He took another deep breath and looked Isabella dead in the eyes. "Candace said, had she been in my position, and Jeremy was sick, she probably would have been angrier than if, say, Stacy or Jenny were sick."

"I'm lost."

"She said she would have been angrier if Jeremy were sick because she loves him."

Isabella's expression was blank, but her eyes revealed she was intrigued.

"I said I was mad because my best friend was sick, nothing more."

Isabella cast her eyes down at the floor.

"But…shouldn't the one you love most be your best friend, too?"

Their gaze locked again.

"Phineas, are you saying-?"

"I'm saying I want to go further with you. You are my best friend, and I can't think of anything that could ever change that. My feelings for you are still conflicted in my head, and I don't want to say I'm in love with you, but…I really want to go out with you. Just…" Isabella was almost scared to hear what was coming next. "…Not yet."

There was silence. They sat, hand in hand on the bed, Phineas's eyes locked on Isabella, but the girl looking anywhere but at him.

Finally, she said, "If not now…when?"

"When the time is right. I'll know, and I think you will, too."

She didn't respond.

Phineas let go of her hands and slid closer so that they were side by side instead of at the weird angle facing each other. "But…since it is Christmas…I have something for you."

Isabella looked at him, and he this time he looked away. Several tense seconds passed before he leaned forward and kissed Isabella on the cheek. Phineas quickly shrunk back, as if he were afraid Isabella would bite him.

But she didn't. She just looked at him for a few seconds. She put her finger to the spot on her cheek where he had kissed her.

She leaned toward him and pulled him into a hug. She could not stop the smile from creeping onto her face. "It's a start," she whispered in his ear."

* * *

The knock at the door came at 5:30pm. Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella were playing video games in the living room and didn't hear it. Fortunately, Candace was just coming down the stairs and answered the door.

"Hey, Steve! Merry Christmas!"

"And the same to you."

"Come on in."

Candace stood aside and let Steve enter. He was carrying a stack of thin, gift wrapped packages, which he set down on the floor, being sure to stand in the right spot so Candace could not close the front door.

"I had to come here the long way," Steve said as he removed his gloves and knocked snow from his Ford Racing hat. "There was a tree down blocking Spruce Street. As it turns out, it's a good thing I came the long way, because if I hadn't…" He finally stepped aside and Jeremy side stepped into the doorway. He had stood just out of view on the edge of the porch. "…poor Jeremy here would still be trying to walk here."

"Jeremy!" Candace exclaimed, wrapping her long-time boyfriend in a hug.

"Hey, Candace. Merry Christmas," the blond musician said in his usual kindly manner, smiling broadly.

"What happened?" Candace asked when she finally released Jeremy.

"My car got stuck in the snow."

"Oh, really?" Candace said slyly, glancing at Steve. "What happened to 'Fords will never let you down?'"

"Oh, come on!" Steve said defensively. "He drives a 2001 Ford Focus! It didn't break down, it just got stuck. It's a little front wheel drive sedan, for crying out loud! It's not an F-150!"

"Hey, Steve! Hey Jeremy!" Phineas called from the doorway. He, Ferb and Isabella had heard their friend and come from the other room to greet him.

"'Sup, guys? Merry Christmas!"

Behind the teens in the doorway, Linda called hello to Steve and Jeremy as well, and then said, "Dinner's almost ready. We can eat in ten minutes."

"Oh, good," Steve said, reaching down and picking up his stack of gifts. "Just enough time for you to unwrap these." He handed one to each of the five of them. "They're all the same. I haven't known you guys long enough to shop for you each individually, so I got you all the same thing."

They tore off the wrapping and each revealed a neatly folded white short sleeve t-shirt with Steve's "Boyd's Garage" logo printed on the front.

"Cool. Thanks Steve," was the general response.

"Your welcome. I didn't bother trying to guess sizes, especially for Ferb. I mean, dude, you practically don't have a torso. Where do find clothes that fit you?"

"On the internet," Ferb said matter-of-factly.

"Of course. Anyway, if they don't fit, I'll get you one in a different size, I just needed to have a stand-in for you to unwrap."

"Well, for not knowing what to get us, this is pretty good," Candace admitted.

"I'm glad you think so. Now, down to business: What did your mom make for dinner?"

* * *

"That was delicious, Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher," Isabella said.

"Thank you, Isabella."

Phineas and Ferb cleared dinner dishes while Linda brought out mugs and coffee for those who wanted it.

They sat around the table and chatted idly for a while until Jeremy unexpectedly stood up.

"If I may," he said, putting down his coffee mug. "As you all know, Candace and I have been dating for a long time, and we love each other very much. Therefore, I guess there's no point in putting it off any longer than I already have."

Candace covered her mouth and pushed her chair back from the table a foot. Jeremy dropped down on one knee and pulled a small box from the pocket of his blazer, which he opened to revel a beautiful ring. Everyone around the table giggled slightly. Jeremy was beat red.

"Candace? Will you marry me?"

Candace shrieked, something she hadn't done since before she went away to college. "YES! YES, of course I will!" She jumped up from her chair as Jeremy stood back up. Candace went to hug Jeremy and she crashed into him a bit hard. Jeremy stumbled backward into the wall.

"Ow!"

"Sorry!" Candace kissed Jeremy passionately while everybody clapped, including Perry, who had been sleeping in the corner, and fortunately, no one noticed him.

Steve walked into the doorway and stopped. He saw Jeremy and Candace kissing, and everyone clapping.

"I picked a bad time to go to the bathroom, didn't I?" he asked no one in particular.

"Yes, yes you did," Ferb said.

"Well, what did I miss?"

**Hello for the 5****th**** time, everybody!**

**The next story will be #5.5 in the series. It's a .5 because it is in no way crucial to the plot, it's just an interlude, but it will probably be the funniest story. Actually, it's not even a story. It's a series of one-shots each featuring a different character that will be grouped into one story. For those very few of you who care, here is your preview:**

**The** **overall title is: ****_P&F Industries #5.5: Isabella's Gremlin of a Day and other stories_****. The stories are:**

**_Isabella's Gremlin of a day_****- Featuring Isabella**

**Buford to the Rescue****- Featuring Buford**

**Pushing the Envelope****- Featuring Phineas and Ferb**

**Bullies, Eat My Dust!****- Featuring Baljeet**

**Why Valentine's Day Sucks****- Featuring Steve and Isabella**

**One more thing- PLEASE! I'm begging! Review my stories! No one will review me! I just want to know what you guys think of my writing! PLEASE! Review! Please?**

**Until next time:**

**EDD17SP**


End file.
